Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay has hosted many memorable performances, be it Miles Davis playing under heavy rains in 1985, Ravi Shankar's dazzling sitar showcase in 2001 or the mass sing-along with Crowded House in 2010.

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From a grassy hotel shuffleboard court to a nationally acclaimed San Diego concert venue, the transformation and rise of Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay seems improbable enough for a Hollywood screenplay. (See below for the complete 2011 lineup.) The fact that the owner of Humphrey’s didn’t even know he had acquired a concert venue in 1984, when he bought the Half Moon Inn & Marina where Humphrey’s is located, only adds to the improbability factor.

“There was no stage, no chairs, nothing,” recalled Richard Bartell, the president of Bartell Hotels, one of San Diego’s oldest and largest independently owned hotel companies.

Even after being taken to the empty concert site on Shelter Island during the off-season in late 1984, Bartell was baffled. “I asked: ‘Where is the venue?’ I was told: ‘You’re standing in it.’ I said: “No way!’ ”

But where there was a hotel shuffleboard court, especially one overlooking a panoramic bay and the lights of Point Loma beyond, there was most definitely a way. And Humphrey’s, which has hosted such music and comedy legends as Stevie Wonder, Bill Cosby, Dave Brubeck and Aretha Franklin since its low-key launch in 1981, long ago earned the right to toot its own horn. In the process, it has become a San Diego tradition for at least two generations of concertgoers — on land, sea (the venue's additional audience of freewheeling "boat people") and on the floating pier adjacent to the venue (which in 1984 sank because of overcrowding by fans during a Jimmy Buffett concert).

“We have gone to between 8 and 12 shows at Humphrey’s every year since we moved here in 1989, and we took our two daughters to their first concert there in 2000,” said Annika Bohl, a Point Loma resident.

“I grew up in Sweden and it’s just delightful to take (foreign) visitors to Humphrey’s. They think San Diego is heaven on earth to begin with, and it gets even better when you take them to Humphrey’s.”

This year’s 30th anniversary season runs from May 3 to Oct. 25. It will feature more than 50 concerts by a mix of Humphrey’s favorites (including B.B. King, Lyle Lovett and David Sanborn) and newcomers to the 1,400-capacity venue (including Adele, Jennifer Hudson and “Glee” TV series star Matthew Morrison).

“I love Humphrey’s,” said Indian music legend (and longtime Encinitas resident) Ravi Shankar, who performed there in 2001 and returned last year to attend a concert by musical pal Jackson Browne. “The atmosphere and the whole setting are fantastic. The only problem is, being so close to the ocean, delicate instruments like the sitar easily go out of tune.”